PS3 "not a game machine"

A brand new interview with Sony chief Ken Kutaragi is warming our screens this morning, and has been translated from an original piece by Japanese e-zine Impress PC Watch. In the chin-wag, Kutaragi impresses the PS3's purpose as an 'entertainment centre', a media hub. Despite these proclamations, Kutaragi also found time to criticise the design of the Xbox 360. The sly devil. The PS3 is "is not a game machine", rather a "a computer that's meant for entertainment" and is created to "[explore ways of] applying the power of computing to entertainment and enjoyment".

The Cell processor which powers the PS3 was highlighted by Kutaragi as indicative of the system's aims, a high-powered, 'super-computer style' CPU, designed purely with entertainment as its purpose.

"PCs that are currently available have been created as work tools," Kutaragi stated. "They've begun selling computers with media playback capabilities, such as the Media Centre PC, but those just imitate the functions of home electronics. It's not like those machines have been created solely for entertainment."

Kutaragi continued, arguing that the rival Xbox 360 console (out this Christmas) is more like "Xbox 1.5", and that it is too general in its design and architecture. Finally, the supremo highlighted the online media storage planned called Cell Storage, allowing for the refinement of standard videos to High-Definition utilising CPU idle time. Rips of DVDs and the like can also be stored safely thanks to the PS3's security features, we're told. All in all, an interesting interview.